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Once the Warden travels in Sulcher's Pass, the merchant after the conversation will give the Warden a Golem Control Rod which is supposedly used to operate a golem; now all that is missing is the command phrase. After he is asked for more information, the merchant says the golem can be 'picked up' from the town of Honnleath—far south within the arling of Redcliffe.

Entering the village, you soon find out that it is overrun by darkspawn. There aren't many and the area is fairly small, with a 'statue' prominent in the village square. After battle, try your command phrase on the golem. It will not work; a quest update suggests seeking out the previous owner. A villager's corpse near the golem holds a key; this unlocks Olaf's chest (on the porch at the end of this area's other path), which contains Olaf's dagger.

After exploring the village, enter Wilhelm's Cellar. What was most recently the library level (now a terrible mess) has some Hurlocks and Genlocks to dispatch; the next, bigger room below that area has more of the same, including a Genlock emissary and Hurlock alpha. They have been focused on what seems to be an energy barrier; once the darkspawn are defeated you may talk to the refugees behind it. Matthias can explain that his father Wilhelm was a mage, as well as the previous owner of the golem, Shale. Wilhelm's wife hated the golem, and sold the control rod after Wilhelm's death. If you have already tried to activate Shale, you will learn that the activation words that Wilhelm's wife provided were wrong. Matthias will agree to give you the correct words—provided you rescue his daughter Amalia, who wandered deeper into the cellar (which used to be Wilhelm's lab). The (Intimidate) option goes nowhere—he won't deal with someone who won't go after his daughter.

Deeper into the cellar you will discover a dilemma: a Desire Demon who possessed a cat (named Kitty) was sealed in the laboratory by a magical puzzle lock. Amalia has been charmed by the demon and will not leave without her new kitty. Kitty is magically prevented from touching the puzzle and Amalia can't work it out, so it's up to you to resolve the situation. You have several choices:

Attempt to kill the demon immediately. Any confrontation without first releasing the seal on the doorway will cause the demon to possess Amalia, forcing you to kill them both.

Tell the demon you'll think about it and return to Matthias. You can lie and say Amalia is dead, persuade him to abandon her or let him try to save her himself. If Matthias runs into the dungeon, he will be possessed by the demon instead.

You can compromise with Kitty, allowing the demon its freedom but without taking the girl. Walk out without finishing the puzzle and Matthias will engage you in conversation. If Matthias runs into the dungeon, it will end the same way as the above, with Matthias being possessed.

You can compromise with Kitty, allowing the demon its freedom but without taking the girl. After solving the puzzle Kitty will attempt to betray you. You can prevent Kitty from possessing the girl, in which case Kitty will attack you while Amalia escapes. Alternatively you can make a further deal and allow Kitty to possess Amalia; this outcome is the only one that obtains the staff.

You can lie to Kitty (if your Coercion is high enough) and tell her you are going to help her, then after you solve the puzzle, you can say "you're not going to touch the girl". Kitty will of course attack you, and Amalia escapes unpossessed.

You can simply help Kitty and allow the demon to possess the girl.

If you make a deal to allow the demon to possess Amalia then Matthias will always be fooled by her performance. Based on your choice, you can vary the approval of your companions as well as which quest items you receive. (See Result for approval changes and items for each choice.)

After the first dialog with Kitty, you will be ambushed on the wooden bridge as well as in the root room by Lesser shades. They will always spawn, whether you make a deal with the demon, slay it or leave it.

Regardless of your choices, you will always obtain the command phrase from Matthias. A ladder on the wall, in the room where you find Matthias, provides a short-cut to the surface. Once top-side, you can now activate Shale.

The puzzle in the room is a 5 by 5 sliding puzzle with a twist. The objective is to get the flame to travel from one corner of the board to the other by moving the tiles. Each tile has an arrow on it, pointing in the direction the flame will jump. Once the flame has reached the end tile, the seal on the door will be released and the kitty will automatically resume dialog.

From the initial board position, it is possible to solve the puzzle using the following steps.

The steps tell you which way to move a tile, not the tile to move. Therefore, left means you move the only tile that can move left, and not the tile to the left of the gap.

↑ ↑ ← ↓ → ↑ ← ↓ → ↓ ← ↑ ↑ ← ↑ ← ↓ ← ↑ → ↓ ↓ ← ↑ ↑ → ↓

There are seven solutions with the minimal number of moves (19); of these, the following probably causes the least amount of singeing:

↑ ← ← ↓ ← ↑ ↑ → → ↓ ← ↑ ↑ ← ↓ ← ↑ → ↓

In any case it is advisable to stop burning before moving the last tile into place, since otherwise the burning will continue throughout the ensuing dialogue with Kitty.

Complete the puzzle and you get:

500 XP

Note: If you killed Kitty or Kitty possessed Amalia or Matthias without you doing the puzzle then you cannot do it afterwards.

Promise to let Kitty go without Amalia, solve the puzzle, then make a deal with Kitty to possess Amalia after all, asking it to make it worth your while. Note: You get the belt after talking to her father.

(Persuade) Think of it as a portable battering ram. — Alistair disapproves (-1) PC glitch found when Alistair was at 92 approval; choosing this option instead bumped his approval up by one, despite the message claiming approval loss.

I could tell it to do something else... Shale asks if you have changed your mind:

If you tell Shale to leave then she leaves forever and Alistair disapproves (-4)

If you tell Shale you haven't changed your mind then Alistair disapproves (-7)